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Welcome To My Thoughts On Pens And Pencils

I will respect your right to disagree with what I have to say about Pens and Pencils as long as you respect the fact that I am an Old Geezer.

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A Beauty Every One... And There's More At Home!

All Jammed Up?

If you need detailed instructions on how to clear a lead jam from a mechanical pencil then click this link, "All Jammed Up?" or the link in the pages header.

NOW THE BLOGGING BEGINS...

Please enjoy your stay at my humble blog. Please feel free to leave a comment about any article that you read. Also please notice that there are four reactions at the bottom of each article. If you find any article funny, interesting, cool or helpful please so indicate. Thank you for visiting my blog.

The Old Geezer

Please Excuse My Absence I have not blogged since July of 2015 due to the fact that my Lovely Wife was diagnosed with 2 types of cancer. A new case of breast cancer which has metastasized and gone to her bones, mainly her back. She had a mastectomy of her left breast which showed the type of cancer that was in her bones. She has been taking an oral med. every day and she has a port under her skin to receive a liquid med. She has gone through one round of radiation treatments to stop some pain in her back. That gave her GERD and the med for that was nasty tasting. The bone cancer has caused the vertebra in her lower back to pinch her left sciatic nerve causing her pain, numbness and foot drag. She also has skin cancer that has only been partly addressed.

I have been busy taking care of her as the treatments have left her weak and sickly. She can not drive so I have to drive her to her appointments and treatments. I also have to do all the cooking and most of what cleaning we do. So I do not have a lot of time for blogging. However the installment of the review of the Schaeffer Ultrafine 0.3mm pencil marks what I hope will be a new review every month. However some of my future reviews may seem familiar as they may be a review of a pencil or pen that I have reviewed before just in another size due to my limited collection of writing instruments and the economic state of our nation.

I am grateful to George Fox for wanting me to do a review of another one of his pencils. I think that as a reader of my humble blog, may fine of interest as the Schaeffer Ultra Fine is a very unusual pencil.

So please excuse my absence and as a reader of my humble blog I hope that you enjoy the review of this unique pencil.

Coming Soon...

Thank you,

The Old Geezer.

Monday, November 30, 2009

JetPens has ask me to do a top 10 Christmas Gift Ideas article. I was flattered! Of course I said yes! But there's more! Not only do I get to inform others as to what I think is cool for Christmas but you, my readers, get a chance to win a $10 gift certificate from JetPens! Now, how cool is that? But more on that later. For now, in on particular order, are

My Top 10 Christmas Gift Ideas

The Staedtler 925-85-03 REG Drafting pencil. This is an elegant drafting/writing pencil for just about everyone who wants a nice, well balance metal drafting pencil. This pencil has the added adjustment that allows the user to set the amount of amount lead projected with each press of the push button! This would make an excellent gift for any pencil freak, eh, aficionado.

Another fine metal drafting pencil is the rotring (red ring) 600. Due to it's heft and balance it is one of my favorite drafting pencils. Unfortunately the 600 (and it's related siblings) is no longer in manufacturer. However there seem to be a goodly number of the popping up on eBay and a few other sites, so it can still be found. Be prepared to pay a hefty price for one thought! But for me, it was worth it.

I'm rather new to fountain pen use. I've come to appreciate them very much in the months since I've rediscovered them. I've gone from owning one old plastic fountain pen to owning over 20 and over 8 bottles of ink in just 6 months! I especially like extra fine (EF) nib pens as I like very thin line as I often write small. The Pilot Penmanship is an inexpensive pen with and excellent EF nib and is my favorite fountain pen to date. It is cartridge fed and comes in clear or black.

The Penmanship can be purchased from our friends at JetPens. Photo courtesy of JetPens.

What good is a fountain pen with out ink? And there are fewer inks available for the price better than Noodler's Ink. Noodler's in made in America of the best ingredients available. The colors are rich and vibrant, transparent inks transparent and the opaque inks opaque. They even have "Bulletproof" inks that are resistant to check washing! And the "Bulletproof" black ink is b-l-a-c-k!

I have not done a review of a bottle of Noodler's Ink, but trust me on this, it's good ink.

Noodler's ink is available from our friends at JetPens. Photo courtesy of JetPens

The Platinum Pro Use 03 MSD 1000A is an all metal drafting pencil with good balance and light weight, a rare combo in a metal drafting pencil. The bulbous grip may look a little funny but the surface is excellent for gripping! I have fondness for metal drafting pencils but for some time was leery of buying one. But Platinum came through with one in exchange for a review! I should not have been so leery! It is an excellent drafting pencil and a fine addition to my collection!

Another drafting pencil that I was leery of was the Pilot S10 03. Now just why I was so leery I can't remember. I do know that despite it's funky appearance it is one of the finest dratting pencils I own! The top half is plastic while the bottom is all metal and makes the pencil pleasingly bottom heavy! It really is a pleasure to write with and would make an excellent gift for Christmas or any other time!

Drafting pencil manufactures have been trying to develop a way to keep the lead sleeve from poking users in the chest when the put one in their pocket as well as keeping it from bending and breaking if dropped when not in use. Mitsubishi uni ball came up with this little beauty, the Shift! The grip moves up and down to either expose or hide the lead sleeve. It locks in either position. Unique! It is a fine dratting pencil worthy of such a fine company!

The Mitsubishi uni ball Shift is available from our friends at JetPens. Photo courtesy of JetPens.

Zebra is a name that I have come to trust for making nice, rugged, inexpensive, nice writing ball point pens. They also make a fine line of mechanical pencils as well. An excellent example of both is the F-402 pen and pencil set. The pen uses Zebra's F refill and the pencil comes in 0.5 mm. The set comes with some extras such as a tube of lead, an F refill and a blister pack of eraser refills! All for a very reasonable price! Both instruments are great and the stainless and black finish make for a very handsome set! It will look nice in a shirt or jacket pocket.

I have yet to do a review of this set so please keep checking back for the up coming review.

You will have to do a web search for the Zebra F-402 Pen and Pencil Set in order to find the best price.

Still another offering from Zebra is the Tect 2Way and Tect 2Way 1000 drafting pencil. The former being made of plastic and the latter metal. This pencil in unusual because it's called a "shaker". The pencil has a metal weight in the lower half that is used to advance lead by shaking the pencil. It can also be used in the normal fashion by pressing the push button atop the pencil. The weight can be locked so only the push button can advance lead. A very unusual pencil that writes well. Something for the guy or gal that "has them all"!

I have yet to review this pencil so keep checking back to see the up coming review.

The Zebra Tect 2Way and Tect 2Way 1000 are available from our friends at JetPens. Photo courtesy of JetPens.

My last offering is the Pilot Plumix. The Plumix is actually a music pen, that is the nib is squared off as a calligraphy pen is only it is designed to be pushed as well as pulled, unlike a calligraphy pen nib which will chatter and spit ink if pushed. Even though originally designed for the musision to write music with the Plumix makes an excellent elegant writing pen if used correctly!

Now for the good part! In order to have a chance to win a $10.00 gift certificate from JetPens all you need to do is leave a comment to this posting. One comment per reader, please! If you leave a comment as "Anonymous" , please leave some other identifier so that I can tell you from the other anonymous commenters. The comment must be posted no later than midnight December the 11th. I will pick a winner via the Random Interger Generator at the bottom of the blog. The winner will be posted here in the comments section so please check back on the 12th to see if you are a winner! The winner will have until midnight on the 13th to email me thier name and valid email address! The winner will receive their $10.00 gift certificate by email. That's all there is too it!

IMPORTANT NEWS

There was a problem with my blog. A setting was changed. That setting changed they way that I moderated the comments people left on my blog. Somehow the setting was changed from the normal never moderate the comments to always moderate the comments. I don't know how this was changed but it was and apparently for some months. I apologize for all the trouble this may have caused anyone who left a comment. The problem has been corrected and the winner of the contest has been listed below. I have extended the deadline for the winner to get in touch with me. That deadline is NOON on Friday the 18th. Once the winner contacts me with their name and email addy I will email them the gift certificate number ASAP. Again I apologize for any hardships this glitch may have caused anybody!

And the winner is... number 19 which corresponds to the comment left by Christmas Gifts! Congratulations! Please send me an email at theoldgeezer@live.com by noon on the 18th to claim your gift certificate!

Since Christmas Gifts seems to be an on-line store, I have disqualified them. The new winner isgh1.So will gh1please send me an e-mail!? I'll give you until noon on Monday the 21st to reply. Thank you.

Giveaway Scout

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